Christmas Wishing In Bon Temps
by PleasantlyWeird
Summary: My entry for the Sookieverse Weekly One Shot Challenge, Week 38. Sookie has one wish that has never come true. Can Eric Northman figure out what it is in time to prove to Sookie that they are meant to be together? Rated M for some language.


A/N *** This is my entry for the Sookieverse Weekly One Shot Challenge, Week 38! I would like to thank the lovely and scrumtrulescent Mama2Leos for being my beta for this entry. This one kind of just came out when I read the challenge topic. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

**Christmas Wishing In Bon Temps**

Sookie hated Fangtasia. She hated driving there, hated the way the vampires dressed when they worked there. None of them dressed that way unless they were on duty as far as she knew. She hated the desperate humans that went there for titillation and excitement. She hated the sweaty smell that permeated the place and she definitely hated the way she wanted Eric Northman.

Yeah, she wanted him. Craved him. At the same time she resented the hell out of him because she was at his beck and call. He's a master manipulator and Sookie still couldn't come to terms with how she'd ended up volunteering her services.

Sookie sighed deeply as she threw her old car into park.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" she fumed through gritted teeth.

"Well, if you insist, Doll."

Pam had her door opened before she had finished yelping in surprise.

"Darn it Pam! How many times do I have to tell you how much I HATE when you do that?"

"Sookie, I think you're delicious when you're pissy. Now get your ass in gear, the Viking is waiting for you."

"All the more reason for me to take my dear sweet time."

Pam laughed and rolled her eyes in her droll fashion. Sookie had been a constant source of amusement for Eric's second in command. Never in her long existence had she met a human like her, one that wasn't even slightly scared of her maker.

Eric was behind his desk with his feet propped up on top of it. His thumbs were positioned under his chin, giving him a thoughtful look. He smiled his sexiest crooked smile at her when she made eye contact with him. Sookie felt her body betray her simply because she was in the room with him.

"Hello lover. How are you this evening?"

"Pissed that I had to drive to Shreveport. Angry that you wouldn't tell me what this was about on the phone. Hungry because I didn't have time to eat before I had to come here because I had to work over. Shall I go on?" Sookie looked as if she were about to stamp her foot on the ground, she fought back the angry tears that she felt welling up.

"I am sorry to inconvenience you this evening, although I must admit that I am always happy to see you." He leered at her chest before slowly raising his eyes back to her face.

"Can you just tell me what I'm here for?" Sookie was in no mood for being ogled, especially since Pam was standing in the corner doing the same thing from a different angle.

"Of course. As you know the holiday season is nearing and I realize that this is a very important thing to humans. As you are my intended and my lover, I need to know what sort of gift you would find satisfactory. I feel that if I can impress you, you might warm my bed again sooner rather than later."

"What makes you so sure that I would ever have sex with you again?" She folded her arms and gave him her best stubborn glare.

"Because it is what I want, and I always get what I want."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," she snorted as she took a seat.

"Lover, you might be able to fool yourself but you cannot fool me. We have a blood bond. I can feel that you still want me. I can smell right now that you're aroused just thinking about the things I can do to you," he smiled broadly, showing more than a little fang.

"We humans are fickle. Maybe I'm done with vamps."

"We both know that's not true. You'll never be satisfied with anyone else after me."

"You are so flippin' arrogant!" She stood and moved as if to leave. He was past her and blocking the door before she had time to blink. His mouth met hers and caused a hurricane of sensation all through her body.

"Sookie, I have been patient. I have given you space like you asked but I grow impatient. I miss ** you."

"Eric...," she panted, "It won't work. We want different things, we don't have a future..."

He kissed her again to stop her words. He could feel the surge of arousal through the bond. His hands moved underneath her shirt and began working her nipples into hardened peaks. She moaned into his mouth and leaned into his touch.

"Your mouth says no but your body is saying yes, Sookie."

His arrogance snapped her out of her almost hypnotized state.

"You know nothing about me!" She tried to push past him but he refused to budge. She would have to barter her way out of his office if she wanted to leave. She backed up and sat down in the chair once again.

"Okay, this is the deal. There is something that I want for Christmas, something I have always wanted for Christmas but have never gotten. If you can figure out what that is without me telling you or giving you hints I will take that as a sign that things could work out for us. If not, I don't have to work for you anymore and we go our separate ways. Deal?" she stuck her hand out to him and looked earnestly into his face.

Eric Northman liked a challenge, no, he LOVED a challenge. He placed his hand into the telepath's and shook in agreement.

"You have until Christmas morning which is twelve days from now. Pam, you're the witness to this."

Pam nodded her consent and looked at her maker. He nodded as well.

"Alrighty then, I'll just be on my way."

Sookie left Shreveport shortly thereafter. Her heart was heavy as she drove home. Her relationship with Eric Northman was coming to an end. She felt happy AND sad about it. The one thing that she had always wanted for Christmas was the one thing that was almost impossible to come by. Sookie sighed softly as she realized that Eric had just made a bet that he couldn't possibly win.

"What do you think she wants?"

Pam did her signature eye roll yet again and sighed impatiently. "Jewelry of course!"

"Sookie wouldn't think of such a thing, she's not material minded at all."

"Well Eric, if that's the case I am not the one you should be asking."

"That will be all Pam."

Alone with his thoughts, Eric began to doubt the wisdom in making such a bet with the human. He cared for her and didn't want to break ties with her. She was invaluable to him as a telepath and all that he desired as a lover.

"Pam, Chow."

The two vampires were at his desk within seconds.

"Didn't you just fucking send me out of here?" Pam huffed as she looked at her red fingernails.

"Enough, you insolent brat!" Eric thundered. No one could irritate him faster than his own child. "I want you to bring me Jason Stackhouse."

Eric glared at the idiot brother of his intended. This waste of air and skin was turning out to be no help at all.

"Think," he roared at Jason, "There must be something you can remember that she always asked for but never got for Christmas!"

"I can't think cause you're scaring the shit out of me, mister!" The smell of the human's acrid stench was offensive to his keen vampire nose.

"Master, let me give it a try," Pam offered.

Eric motioned for her to go ahead and she positioned herself in front of Jason.

"Jason, look into my eyes. I want you to take deep, deep breaths and keep looking into my eyes. You're feeling relaxed aren't you?" Jason nodded his head and smiled sleepily at Pam. This feeble-minded human was far too easy to glamor. "Jason, think way back to when you were just a boy and Sookie was a little girl. Was there ever anything that she asked for that she didn't get?"

"Well she never did ask for a whole lot but I remember some things from when I used to sneak and read her diary."

Jason began to rattle off things in rapid fire succession and it was all Chow could do to write them down.

Eric smiled as he silently congratulated himself on winning this bet.

After Pam and Chow had left to return a glamored Jason Stackhouse to his home in Bon Temps, Eric began to peruse the list. There were twenty-three things and he was certain that he knew which one Sookie had been referring to. However, never one to be simple about things, he decided to get every single item that had been listed and deliver them to her two at a time until the last item. The last one would be the one he knew was what she had been angling for.

Sookie hadn't heard a thing last night. She'd drank what was left of a bottle of Boone's Farm Strawberry wine and settled into a deep, if restless, sleep. The next morning, as she stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen to make her usual pot of coffee and dry toast, she almost missed the two wrapped presents sitting on Gran's worn old coffee table.

"What the fudge?"

She walked slowly over to the brightly colored packages and pulled the card  
off of the top of one. Inside was a black card with a shimmery silver  
snowflake printed on the front. Written inside in Eric's unmistakable spidery  
scrawl, it read:

_Let the twelve days of Christmas begin, Lover. – E-_

"Well I know for a fact that it's not what I was asking for but... oh what the hell!" she said to the empty living room.

She tore into the first package with wild abandon and giggled insanely when she realized it was an autographed picture of John Stamos circa his Full House days. She had asked for this gift in 1990 when she was a mere five years old. John Stamos had been her very first crush. A very good guess on Eric's part, maybe this was something she had muttered in her sleep?

Her excitement grew as she realized there was another gift to open and shetore into it with even more enthusiasm. Her eyes grew wide as she realized it was a vintage Super Nintendo with about twenty games. She, along with Jason, had begged and begged for this system Christmas 1991 and had been shot down by  
their parents. Their mom and dad had both believed that video games would cause brain damage and secretly her mother had thought that Sookie was already brain damaged enough. Sookie's little disability had clued her in to her mother's inner musings and it still stung.

Her hands shook as she hooked the Nintendo up to Gran's old television set. She spent the rest of her afternoon playing Mortal Kombat and Earthworm Jim. All too soon it was time to head into work. She couldn't wipe the smile off of her face all evening as she served food and drinks to the townsfolk. She wondered how Eric had obtained this information and had quizzed Jason about it when he came in. He had steadfastly denied having seen Eric or Pam and seemed to be telling the truth.

The night passed by quickly and she hurried home to get in a few more games of Q-bert before she got too sleepy. She felt that someone was watching through the window as she played one last game and she figured it was Eric. She hoped he could see and feel just how happy these two gifts had made her. She put the John Stamos picture on her nightstand and even kissed it before she turned out the light.

The next morning she ran to the living room and once again there were two gifts waiting for her. Without delay she set about unwrapping them. The first was a VHS copy of _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ and a Jack Skellington doll. She'd seen the movie in the theater with her mom and had wanted to own the movie. She'd had a crush on Jack in the worst way and that truly disturbed her mother. She refused to buy Sookie anything having to do with the movie and even forbade her to talk about it. Sookie made sure not to listen in to hear what her mother was thinking about it all. She couldn't stand to hear the ever critical inner voice that thought what her mother was too tactful to say out loud.

The second present was a Tom Glavine Atlanta Braves jersey. It looked like it was authentic, maybe even game worn. She had secretly wanted this in 1995 but it was something so expensive and Gran was taking care of them by that time. She hadn't told anyone about wanting this. How in the hell did Eric find out about this?

And each day there were two new presents waiting for her. A box seat ticket for the Nutcracker in Baton Rouge, bubble gum scented bath oils that she remembered asking for when she was six. A picture of a beautiful mare named Cadillac that she was the new owner of that was stabled on a farm a mere five miles down the road. Satin pajamas, the complete _New Kids on the Block_ album collection, a year's subscription to Teen Beat, real gold hoop earrings, a skateboard (she'd gone through a tomboy phase), two pairs of Coca Cola jeans,  
the collectible I Love Lucy Barbie Doll, a life size card board stand up of Johnny Depp, She received a letter that said a sizable donation had been made in her name to the ASPCA. She'd asked everyone to do that in lieu of buying her anything when she was in high school but had never received anything to let her know that anyone did. She got a _Saved by The Bell_ lunch box, toe socks, a pashmina shawl (probably the only luxurious thing she had ever wanted but it was only because she had heard them talk about it on _Friends_ and she wanted to know what one felt like) and on Christmas Eve morning she was awoken by something mewling in her living room.

She walked out to see the cutest, fluffiest black kitten ever sitting on her couch on a purple velvet pillow. Next to it was a Cabbage Patch Doll with a pink bow in its hair. The kitten was something that she had thought about  
gifting herself with this Christmas and the Cabbage Patch Doll was the last thing she ever asked her parents for. She'd felt so bad to find out that they'd been too strapped for cash to buy her one.

She'd decided to name the kitten Bella. She put the pink bow on her tiny collar and had carried the little thing around all day. There was no work tonight and she knew that Jason wouldn't be by. He had a date in Shreveport  
and that was more important to him than a silly thing like spending Christmas Eve with his sister.

Sookie had put all of the presents Eric had sent her, excluding the horse, under her tree. It made the house seem more homey and less empty. She stared at the fireplace, contemplating everything Eric had done for her in the past couple of weeks. A lot of the things had to have been hard to come by. Most of them were inexpensive and all of them were things that she had asked or wished for but never gotten. She was totally perplexed about how Eric came to find out about them as well. This was a lot of hard work and it told her that Eric had serious feelings about her, not just "I want to screw you" urges. But she had made a deal with him and that deal said that if he couldn't come up with the ONE thing that she had asked for every year that she could remember but had never gotten, he had to leave her alone. They shook on it. Pam had witnessed it.  
He would never be able to deliver this gift.

So Sookie the telepath and Bella the kitten spent Christmas Eve on their worn but comfortable couch. Sookie cried and Bella commiserated until they both fell asleep. It was the saddest that Sookie had ever felt in her life.

Sookie felt the rough sand papery tongue of her new pet on her face early the next morning. It was Christmas and she didn't want to open her eyes to the reality of this day. Even through her closed lids the room seemed insanely bright. Great, major sunshine on Christmas was the exact opposite of what she had dreamed of.

She sat up and rubbed her face in her hands while Bella mewled impatiently at her feet.

"Okay, okay. I get that you're hungry. Give me one minute!"

When she opened her eyes and looked out the window, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Snow! It was snowing on Christmas morning! How could this be? It had NEVER snowed in Renard Parish on Christmas before. Eric Northman was a very powerful vampire but how in the hell had he managed this?

There was a knock at her door and she ran to her bedroom to throw on some decent clothes and smooth her hair into a ponytail.

The knocking was persistent and she dashed to the door to answer before whoever it was put a hole in it. There was a tall, gangly man in blue coveralls standing at her door with a clip board.

"Miss Stackhouse? My name is Marvin Keller and I'm with Party Machines out of Shreveport. Mr. Northman sent us to supply you with the White Christmas special. He specified that we should ask you just how deep you wanted the snow."

Sookie couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled out of her. She doubled over and eventually had to sit down. Eric had paid what was sure to be a fortune toget these guys to work on Christmas. He'd done all this for her.

He loved her.

She loved him too. He'd found a way to give her the one thing she had always wanted, always prayed for, and had never gotten: a white Christmas in Louisiana.

"Make it as deep as you can!" she'd laughed. Marvin the snow guy had looked at her funny while Bella stared at her with disdain. She knew that she looked like a loon but she didn't care. Tonight Eric would come to her and she would welcome him into her bed.

This was shaping up to be the best Christmas ever.


End file.
